Roscoe P. Coldchain: Well Off, Not Rich

The new artist is a catch twenty-two role. You have to bring something new, but you have to fit within the familiarities of the listener’s ear. Rosco P. Coldchain might be doing the impossible. At a time where nobody believes the thug anymore, Rosco’s stories echo with an eerie truth. In an era where everybody […]

The new artist is

a catch twenty-two role. You have to bring something new, but you have to fit

within the familiarities of the listener’s ear. Rosco P. Coldchain might be doing

the impossible. At a time where nobody believes the thug anymore, Rosco’s stories

echo with an eerie truth. In an era where everybody wants to say that they’ve

been hip-hop forever, Rosco admits his

previous other priorities.

Coldchain spares

no expense in his words or his production budget. With an album on the horizon

that has the hype and the sounds to keep you warm in the Winter, it’s time to

spotlight the man in advance. In a candid Allhiphop interview, Rosco makes bold

statements about his potential riches, the awaited album, and may even poke

a shot at somebody close to his camp. You want the specifics? Read on.

Allhiphop: "Cot

Damn" is going crazy and won’t stop. As a new artist, how much confidence

has that success given you in terms of dropping a debut album?

Rosco P Coldchain:

A whole lot. Actually, we thought the label was gonna do what it had to do when

we brought "Hot Damn" out. But in didn’t do that, ‘cuz it went over

a lot of peoples’ heads. So now, it’s a whole re-grouping situation. I just

gotta slow it down from ’em. I definitely wanna hurry up and really get my album

out.

Allhiphop: The

big rumor was that y’all brought in Premier and Alchemist late in the album’s

process. True?

RPC: Haha! Yes

indeed! It’s definitely true. We got Alchemist. We got Premier. We got Timbaland,

possibly. [We got] Kanye West. We definitely have an array of producers on the

album.

Allhiphop: Coming

up on Star Trak, how demanding are the Neptunes as producers and executives?

RPC: Honestly,

Pharrell and Chad, both of them are hard workers. And like really, you just

gotta fit in. Go with the program or just get pushed back. It’s with anything

– if you don’t work hard, you’re gonna get what you put into it. They hard workers,

and I gotta work hard with ’em. They definitely push me and give me the stride

to keep it goin’.

Allhiphop: A common

criticism might be that your album is banging, but doesn’t get personal. So,

from you, I wanna hear what’s your most personal track and why?

RPC: It’s called

"Blue Car". It’s featuring Pharrell. Right now, "Blue Car"

is the one for me. Because it explains everything. Just me from the times it

was messed up to the times of the deal and everything of that nature. It’s definitely

a story-telling [track]. That’s sort of my niche. I like to tell stories and

give a n#### a visual of what I’m talking about.

Allhiphop: My favorite

cut off the advance is "This Beat is Hot." That’s probably the closest

thing I heard as far as new-old-school. Tell me about designing this cut, because

it’s huge.

RPC: Let me tell

you about that track. I didn’t like that track at first, Paine. I said, "Pharrell,

what the Hell is this?" He had the genius. We laid it. It came out well.

I still didn’t like it. Because, to me, around the time we made that – a lot

of people had took that scenario. You see [that] old school’s in right now.

That trend didn’t start because heads inside of the club wanted it. I mean,

yes, everything evolves in a circle. But Pharrell brought that back. What happened

was, I’m not even gonna say no names, but a certain individual heard the song,

and the next week one of his artists came with a similiar beat, nah mean, and

the whole 80’s thing going for her, or him. But, it kinda stole our idea. Nobody

can do it like Pharrell can. But in the same token, that just made me dislike

the song even more. Just ‘cuz people were like, "We gonna try to immitate

that." That whole feel. All in all, it’s the original.

It’s the trend-setting song regardless.

Allhiphop: I think

you’re one of the first artists in recent years to really represent North Philly

in the mainstream. The video captures the essence. Because it’s been a minute

since somebody really took the torch outta there, how is the local love especially

with this new sound, how are heads adapting to it?

RPC: I would say

that they’re adapting very well. It’s kind of funny because, for a minute, when

the mainstream came back, and finally made its rounds back to Philly as far

as the Rap Industry – it was a trend that everybody sounded kind of light. We

got our own uniqueness, but in the same token, there were a lot of cats sounding

like certain individuals that was already on from Philly. Then it kinda messed

up the whole reputation of [Philly]. Just as far as me, I plan on bringing in

back. That’s all I’m sayin’. I want to change that whole groove. Everybody’s

lovin’ it. Everybody’s sayin’ I’m different. That’s a start. I’m still in the

street everyday. I ain’t goin’ nowhere. They see me everyday. So, "And

he’s keepin’ it real." They see Pharrell, they expect me to be like him.

Like one of these cats to leave the hood. It like I can’t, but I won’t. Not

right now. I need the streets.

Allhiphop: You

say that on the record, "I’m well off, but I’m not rich."

RPC: That’s the

truth, absolutely! I’m well off, but I’m not rich. I’m content with being broke.

The broker you are, the realer you are. I won’t miss nothin’. If I was, God

willing, if everything goes according to plan, I’m good – I’m good. I’m rich

– I’m rich. Right now I’m well off. I’m content. As long as I keep my sanity,

I’m good.

Allhiphop: You’re

being billed as a new artist. In respects to the dues you paid, talk about pre-Star

Trak Roscoe P.

RPC: As an artist,

I was always off and on. I was always in the basement. While everybody was rockin’

on a MPC, I’m in there on a Casio keyboard or some s### like that in my man’s

basement. It came to a point in time where I really couldn’t do it. I was slackin’

on it. And I was like, "This s### ain’t feedin’ me. This s### ain’t put

no money on my table." I always been the type to hustle or rob somebody

or something like that. I always into the s### I was talkin’. I always had a

dream for it, it was definitely secondary until Pharrell came along. And it

still took a whole lot of convincing. This type of talk we having right now

is convincing me more than anything else. Honestly man, it still ain’t fully

hit me. But yeah, I was definitley into drugs. I was definitely outta town selling

drugs. I had my sons. I was in a lot of shoot outs and s###. It was average

hood s### I was going through.

Allhiphop: And

you submitted a demo to Pharrell, or what?

RPC: I was sitting

on the corner. It was on some real s###! I was on the corner. I see this weirdo.

I was like, "Who the Hell is dude?" And then recognized. I said, "Damn,

I know dude. This is the dude from that damn video." He was in Kelis’ video

at the time. He was having a conversation on the street with Rob Walker. And

I said, "Yo man, there’s some high cats in Philly, but you need to holla

at Rosco P." Because that’s what they were talkin’ bout. "Rosco P.

Who’s Rosco P?" So, I’m like, "Aiight, hold on, I’mma go get him for

you." So, he’s sitting there. I’m rollin’ my weed. He’s like, "Where’s

Rosco?" So I spit it, and he was like, "Let me see if it’s real."

So he sent like ten cats at me. [I] chopped em up, spit ’em out. He was like,

"Don’t talk to nobody." [We exchanged numbers.] He called back in

like two weeks. Two weeks later, I was up in Virginia recording: Me, the Clipse,

and [Philly’s] Most Wanted. A song called "Release". It went down

like that.

Look for Rosco

P Coldchain’s debut, dropping on Star Trak Records this Fall.